petdiabetesfandomcom-20200216-history
Case:Patriot
Diagnosis October 19, 2005. No other health problems. Weight *At DX, down from 15-17 lbs. to 11 lbs. *January 5, 2006 weight was 12 lbs. 2 oz. Symptoms Excessive peeing, drinking, weight loss, loss of appetite, lethargy, poor coat/dandruff. Insulin - BCP PZI (was PZI Vet) Began PZI Vet (IDEXX) October 19, 2005. 1u one time a day for the first two weeks, then 1u two times a day, 12 hours apart. Switched to BCP PZI the evening of February 10, 2006. Dosing increases: *11-25-05 Dose raised to 1.5 units 2X daily *12-03-05 Dose raised to 1.75 units 2X daily *12-10-05 Dose raised to 2 units 2X daily *01-02-06 Dose reduced to 1.4u - 1.6u to achieve flatter curve and stop rebounding and 300-400 point drops. *01-29-06 Dose raised to 2u *02-03-06 Dose raised to 2.2u *02-10-06 Insulin change to BCP PZI u100 and dose is now 2u Home Testing Yes, absolutely! I use the One Touch Ultra Smart and have a back up meter; the Ascensia Contour. Patriot has a test before EVERY shot without fail. I also spot check a few evenings during the week, do a 12-hour curve every couple of weekends and when not curving spot check over the course of the weekend. The results are recorded in an Excel spreadsheet as well as a Word document where I can include additional information related to times and what food was fed. Click here to go to Patriot's profile where you can see his BG readings (scroll down to find them) Diet Up to the time of diagnosis was fed primarily dry food with occasional wet food for a treat. At diagnosis, was prescribed dry D/M and wet M/D or D/M. Patriot loved the dry D/M and would not eat the M/D or D/M wet. With insulin and the dry food he began eating well again. BUT... My own research indicated strongly that dry food was the equivalent of pouring gasoline on a fire (his diabetes) and that a wet food only diet consisting of less than 10% carbohydrates would improve his chances of remission. Though the vet’s argument for keeping dry out for grazing so he would have a steady flow of food over the course of a day made some sense, it made better sense to keep extra wet food out for half his cycle. One week after diagnosis all dry food was removed from the diet and replaced with low carb Fancy Feast. A month later the diet was changed to include Wellness and a raw food diet. Currently diet is half wet food and half raw food that I prepare myself. Want to start researching diet too? Click here and here Where we are now Months 1-3: Fluctuating BG’s, sometimes steep drops followed by rebound. Lack of duration and peaks 4 hours after insulin was administered. Pre-shots typically in the upper 400’s to upper 500’s. Dose was slowly increased and rebound situations increased as well. In early January 2006 dose was reduced until high flat curve achieved for 3 weeks prior to beginning dose increases again. We are still trying to break glucose toxicity and begin bringing the BG's down into regulation range. He's a tough nut to crack. Month 4: Well, we were making progress with PZI Vet but for cost reasons have switched to BCP PZI. Higher preshots have returned but, the rest of the cycle is a lovely curve. Wow! There is settling time required here. Month 5 will be interesting. Patriot’s Story Patriot was diagnosed October 19, 2005, though symptoms may have begun occurring six months prior. In the spring of 2005 he uncharacteristically became very fat and lost interest in physical activity, though he would lie around and play if you dangled the toy over him. Patriot and his buddy Midnight were clearly overweight and their dry food only diet was changed to Science Diet Nature’s Best in an effort to give them better ingredients. Three feral kittens joined the family in late April 2005 and the focus was on socializing the kittens. It was a constant chore to keep Patriot out of the kitten’s wet food, in hindsight he knew more about what was better for him than I did. By late June 2005 the Litter Robots began clogging due to larger than usual urine clumps and when Patriot covertly used the kitten litter box, it became apparent that Patriot was the one urinating more. Water consumption was also up, but I thought it was due to the addition of two more cats. In August of 2005 I changed dry food to Life’s Abundance in another effort to improve ingredients and promote weight loss. Both adult cats began losing weight, though Patriot lost rapidly. By early September I was congratulating Patriot on how trim he looked. By early October I realized that Patriot seemed too thin and I could suddenly feel his spine and hip bones. I began watching him closely and realized he was ill. He began growling at the other cats, became needy, was urinating more, drinking more, and was very lethargic, sleeping much more than usual. I researched and suspected either a thyroid disorder or diabetes. His vet visit confirmed diabetes. Patriot was only four years old, weighed in at 11 lbs. and had lost about a third of his body weight. More (including recent BG readings) at this url Category:Difficult regulation cases Category:Feline cases Category:Glucose toxicity cases Category:low-carb cases Category:Male cases Category:PZI Vet cases